"and he appointed twelve (whom he also names apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach." Mark 3:14
Camp on this one verse. Just camp on it, and ask yourself,
"How do I live as an ambassador for Christ? How do I live the gospel?"
Don't get confused, there is only one answer: Be with Christ. This is in the onset of Jesus teaching ministry on earth. We understand from Luke 4:43 what Christ's mission in his teaching ministry was, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose." Christ Himself is the good news of the kingdom of God. He then used the twelve men to preach the good news of his Kingdom, these were his disciples who He called apostles. Furthermore Jesus appointed 72 people and sent them out in pairs ahead of himself to prepare those who were to hear the good news of the kingdom (Luke 10). Think we are done yet? At His departure into heaven Christ addressed these apostles who would be the foundation of His church, commanding them to go into ALL the world, teaching all that Christ commanded, teaching about the good news of the kingdom, teaching them about the gospel of Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20)
Is there any disputing that the aim of the church is obedience to the command of Christ, to preach the good news to the world and be prepared for His return?
One of my favorite sermon series is by Joe Boot called "The Doctrine of the Church". I listen to it when I go on long drives. Joe teaches rightly that all Christians are apostles. Not that we have apostolic authority as the foundation of the church as the twelve did. No, but apostolic in the root sense of the word. This is going to get technical, stick with me here. Apostle is a greek noun combined from the verb "stello" meaning "to send" and "apo" meaning "from/out". A literal definition of the apostolic calling that every single Christian has on their lives is that we are send out from Christ to preach the good news of the kingdom of God.
Again... camp on this verse. Knowing that it applied first to the twelve, was issued again to the 72 and now is commanded by our Lord and Master to everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Camp on this.
"and he appointed twelve (whom he also names apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach." Mark 3:14
I cheated. Check out the italicized part, "so that they might be with him". Being appointed and named "apostle" is a spoiler to what their job description entailed: sent out to preach. But, work is preceded by worship. This is something that I need to remind myself of too much, something that I need to discipline myself in more.
Work is preceded by Worship. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord is an ambassador of Christ, is called to live out the gospel, to preach the good news of the kingdom! We are all apostolic. You can't preach the kingdom until you have sat at the feet of the king. Camp on that. Camp on the fact that we have been granted grace to sit at the feet of the king, to learn from His wisdom, to drink of the life giving power of His Word!
You are sent out, but you are first called to sit down. So sit at the feet of Christ, learn from the Master, be transformed by His Word and teaching by the Holy Spirit who Christ gave us that we would learn and be taught all things that He taught!
... then preach the kingdom.
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